Paris centrist newspaper Le Monde has asked the prime minister what he'll say at Thursday's press conference.
"We'll see if we're in a position to relax or reinforce the current regulations,on the basis of the latest statistics" Castex said. But, while admitting that there was evidence of a slight slowdown in the number of French infections, he added that "this is certainly not the moment to lower our guard".
En Irlande, en Espagne, en Belgique ou en République tchèque, les mesures prises par les gouvernements ont permis de ralentir la transmission du virus. #COVIDー19 : en Europe, les premiers effets encourageants du confinement https://t.co/3swICYcMBz
— Le Monde (@lemondefr) November 12, 2020
French President Emmanuel Macron promised that this evening's mid-November review would be the point at which the relaxation of Covid restrictions might be considered. Businesses which have faced either total or partial closure have been hoping for a pre-Christmas boost.
On Wednesday, however, Marc Fesneau, the Parliamentary Relations Minister, poured cold water on those hopes, saying there would be no change at this stage, despite the fact that the government understands the difficulties of the businesses concerned.
Increase in number of infections
The health situation remains very serious. "The crest of this second wave is still to come," according to Jérôme Salomon, director general of the French health services.
⚡🇲🇫INFO - Dans une note confidentielle, révélée par Europe 1, le DG de la Santé dresse un constat alarmant quant à l'efficacité du #reconfinement. Selon lui, il ne serait pas assez efficace notamment à cause des établissements scolaires laissés ouverts... https://t.co/BBgH5qnk7b
— Brèves de presse (@Brevesdepresse) November 6, 2020
There has been a slight improvement, with a decline in the number of cases recorded per 100,000 inhabitants over the past week. The number of positive tests has, once again, dropped below 20 percent.
But there were 328 deaths from coronavirus in the course of Wednesday, slightly down on Monday's total of 551, the tragic daily record for this second wave of the epidemic.
